Name: Raya Hatem Zalloum

Student no: 21911037

Subject: Reading in literature

Presentation:Mirror image by Lena Coakley

Class number: 3
 Mirror image by Lena Coakley

Characters

Alice:Main character ,a teenager (14 years old),insecure and uncomfortable, suffered an

accident and had to undergo a brain transplant which gave her a completely different
. identity.she has large dark-brown eyes
Jenny: Alice’s sister.can’t seem to get along with Alice any more because she is in a different
.body

.Gail: The girl whose Alice’a brain is in

Mrs.Jarred:Gail’s mother ,very upset and feels cheated to have her daughter alive with
.someone else’s brain

Me.Jarred: Gail’s father ,he changes his attitude toward Alice and he said that she’s not alive
.anymore

Plot summary

Mirror image by Lena Coakley is scientific allegorical tale that depicts the internal quest to
find ones true self.the story takes us through the experience of a teenager called
Alice has undergone a brain transplant as a result of fatal accident which she lost her father
,and body in ,only her brain was working
she became the first ever human to receive a brain transplant.she gets the new body from
“Gail” Mrs and Mr.Jarred daughter .she avoided mirrors because she didn’t want to be
reminded in her new body.she started to question her identity whether she is really herself
or not.she and her sister seem oppositely different even though they are twins, Jenny goes
as far to say that her sister is so different, In the end, Alice does realize she is still the same
girl as she was before the accident. After meeting with Mr. Jarred who told her that he can’t
see his daughter in her eyes anymore ,her struggles of identity are resolved and she writes
her initial in the sidewalk as a reminder to herself that she is indeed herself, even though
.her body is different

Themes:
—The impact of science and technology on humans
—The Eyes are mirrors of the soul

Conflict

-External
— Alice Vs.Mother: after Alice has her transplant there is confusing between them
—Alice Vs her sister: Jenny was very close to Alice before the transplant but afterwards ,it
seemed like she was someone else and they couldn’t get along.

-Internal
__Alice with herself: after she gets her new body ,she has troubles adjusting to her new
appearance and she needs to turn her body to with her brain.
—Alice with Gail: Alice’s brain is is in Gail’s body ,so Alice struggles to get used to her body
throughout the story.

Figures of speech:
-simile:
“Squeesed as if it were clay”
“Alice walked across the bedroom like a fashion model ,wearing nothing but black bikini
underwear”
“At one time looking at her was like looking in the mirror”

Style:
—she used flashback a lot in the story like :“if someone touched her arm she wasn’t sure
which part of her body the sensation came from” she used past tense
—meanings were clear ,she used figures of speech.

Imagery: when the writer said “she has big black-brown eyes”
Alice's body, however, is often imagined by the reader to be lean and athletic when the
writer said “Alice grabbed a chunk of her thigh, ‘no cellulite!' "

Symbols:
First of all the author used symbolism to put emphasis that Alice has still remained the same
individual despite having a new body
—concrete initials: Alice then wrote her initials,ACS into the sidewalk to symbolize that she
is her old self and not a different person.
—sunglasses: they protect or shade eyes which are mirrors of the soul.
—Mirrors: they reflect the outside and physical appearance of person.

Point of view:
The story is written in third person limited ,this means the point of view is of one character
in third person view,

Setting:
—The story take place In the city Toronto ,in two main locations:
The hospital:the story flashbacks often to the hospital where Alice was tough how to do
everything from the beginning
—her house: The main part of the story is set in her home after her recovery
In the end, the story changed location to Bedford Avenue .